The subject of the present invention in general pertains to a new Input-Output facility design that exploits high bandwidth integrated network adapters.
In a network computing environment, multitudes of commands and requests for retrieval and storage of data are processed every second. To properly address the complexity of routing these commands and requests, environments with servers have traditionally offered integrated network connectivity to allow direct attachments of clients such as Local Area Networks (LANs). Given the size of most servers, the number of clients usually is in the range of hundreds to thousands and the bandwidth required in the 10-100 Mbits/sec range. However, in recent years the servers have grown and the amount of data they are required to handle has grown with them. As a result, the existing I/O architectures need to be modified to support this order of magnitude increase in the bandwidth.
In addition, new Internet applications have increased the demand for improved latency. The adapters must support a larger number of users and connections to consolidate the network interfaces which are visible externally. The combination of all the above requirements presents a unique challenge to server I/O subsystems.
Furthermore, in large environments such as International Business Machines Enterprise System Architecture/390 (Enterprise System Architecture/390 is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation), there are additional requirements that the I/O subsystem must remain consistent with existing support. Applications must continue to run unmodified, and error recovery and dynamic configuration must be preserved or even improved. Sharing of I/O resources must be enabled as well as the integrity of the data being sent or received. This presents new and complex challenges that need to be resolved.
In order to achieve bandwidths which are dramatically higher and still achieve other required challenges, a new system architecture is needed.
This application is being filed on the same day as the following related applications: PO9-99-013, Ser. No. 09/253,246; PO9-99-014, Ser. No. 09/253,250; PO9-99-015, Ser. No. 09/253,247; PO9-99-016, Ser. No. 09/253,248; PO9-99-017, Ser. No. 09/252,712; PO9-99-018, Ser. No. 09/252,552; PO9-99-019, Ser. No. 09/252,728; PO9-99-020, Ser. No. 09/252,730; PO9-99-021, Ser. No. 09/253,101; PO9-99-022, Ser. No. 09/253,286; PO9-99-023, Ser. No. 09/252,542; PO9-99-024, Ser. No. 09/253,249; PO9-99-025, Ser. No. 09/252,556; and PO9-99-028, Ser. No. 09/252,555.
A computer program product in a network environment having a main storage in processing communication with an interface element having adapters for storing data in a queuing mechanism in the main storage. The program product comprises a data storage device including a computer usable medium having computer readable program means for ensuring proper and timely processing of data and computer readable code means for providing a plurality of queue sets; for dedicating one or more queues in each set as input or output queues; for providing the ability to said queues to share access to a plurality of devices in said network across a plurality of communication stacks; for mapping various resources to said queues to facilitate resource allocation and dynamic configuration by providing initialization of a plurality of configuration parameters; and for providing dynamic expanding and contracting of the number of queues in each set as dictated by traffic patterns and feedback indicators.